On Rad's Radar? - startup Archivestag:blog.tmcnet.com,2011-06-13:/on-rads-radar//512015-03-20T18:21:19ZPeter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.About Product, Startups and Other Things (by Fred Wilson)tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2015:/on-rads-radar//51.527842015-03-15T17:38:09Z2015-03-20T18:21:19Z In this interview of Fred Wilson by Jason Calacanis, they chat about VCs, investing, startups, Apple, Kickstarter, blogging, Net Neutrality and more. On blogging, Wilson remarks that it helps him articulate what he is thinking (at 48 min). He...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
In this interview of Fred Wilson by Jason Calacanis, they chat about VCs, investing, startups, Apple, Kickstarter, blogging, Net Neutrality and more.

On blogging, Wilson remarks that it helps him articulate what he is thinking (at 48 min). He also later talks about how many people worry if they will end up in his blog

At 19 minutes Wilson speaks about NYC startups. Doubleclick was the first big NYC startup. Now there are more startups in NYC. Today, people realize that not being in Silicon Valley doesn't mean that you can't do a startup (or find VC money).

At 30 minutes, he is discusses mesh networks. In Portugal, buses are installing access points by Veniam that are creating a mesh wi-fi network for the town. Wilson invested in Veniam. It was mentioned in a TED talk.

"You have to have the Hustle."

Wilson comments on building a great product. He mentions tumblr at 24 minutes as an example of a company focused on delivering a great product. Wilson believes in the value of having a really great product! Engineering and product teams are a requirement for a sustainable company. Importance of a Product team should not be overlooked.

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Women Owned Start-up Code School Gets Investmenttag:blog.tmcnet.com,2014:/on-rads-radar//51.525082014-11-13T17:06:34Z2014-11-13T17:28:11Z Tampa Bay had a little celebration this week as a women-owned start-up called gr8code received $5.4 million investment. This is big for a number of reasons. It is one of the largest investments in a women-owned start-up in Florida....Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
Tampa Bay had a little celebration this week as a women-owned start-up called gr8code received $5.4 million investment.

This is big for a number of reasons. It is one of the largest investments in a women-owned start-up in Florida. It is early stage money for a Tampa Bay based start-up, which is almost unheard of in this community.

GR8code is a school to learn how to code. It is a 9 week course. The start-up community in Greater Tampa Bay has been expanding the last few years. Notably, Eventjoy, a two-year old start-up in Tampa that launched at Startup Weekend Tampa Bay was acquired by Ticketmaster recently.

At the Startup Surge event a couple of months ago, over 80 startups attended to speak with the mentors. Many of these startups -- and existing businesses in the Greater Tampa Bay area -- seek coding talent, which GR8code could potentially provide.

I know this is outside the telecom window, but I'm kind of proud of Tampa Bay's tech scene right now. As co-founder of IGNITE Tampa and BarCamp Tampa Bay, it's nice to see the tech community get invested.

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Innovation isn't About Replacementtag:blog.tmcnet.com,2014:/on-rads-radar//51.523272014-08-25T22:04:25Z2014-08-25T23:00:30Z In an article about the over-valuation of Uber, was this tidbit: "In 1980, McKinsey & Company was commissioned by AT&T (whose Bell Labs had invented cellular telephony) to forecast cell phone penetration in the U.S. by 2000. The consultant's...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
In an article about the over-valuation of Uber, was this tidbit:

"In 1980, McKinsey & Company was commissioned by AT&T (whose Bell Labs had invented cellular telephony) to forecast cell phone penetration in the U.S. by 2000. The consultant's prediction, 900,000 subscribers, was less than 1% of the actual figure, 109 Million. Based on this legendary mistake, AT&T decided there was not much future to these toys. A decade later, to rejoin the cellular market, AT&T had to acquire McCaw Cellular for $12.6 Billion. By 2011, the number of subscribers worldwide had surpassed 5 Billion and cellular
communication had become an unprecedented technological revolution."
(article via @trengriffin)

Innovation is a funny thing. In many cases, these meshed start-ups (like Uber, AirBnB) combine many elements that go beyond just replacing a previous service (like cabs, hotels). They enable anyone to leverage their assets (sofas, guest room, car) to make money, meet people, help out a stranger - all enabled by cellular, GPS, databases, a website and apps.

The car didn't replace the horse. The Blue Ocean of the car eclipsed the horse and the railroad.

Uber doesn't replace taxis, so much as it creates a separate sector. (I am seeing people replace their cars with Uber.) The same can be said cellalar data - it can't really replace wireline broadband, although there are those that use it this way.

Innovation today (I think) is being powered by economic stress. Etsy, eBay, eLance and other platforms allow people to turn hobbies or skills into extra income or even replacement income. All of this is driven by economic need. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The laws need to catch up to innovation, because AirBnB doesn't follow hotel regulations (neither does VRBO) and Uber & Lyft don't follow cab regulations (and probably not commercial insurance either).

Just some thoughts running through my head today.

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What is Innovation?tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2014:/on-rads-radar//51.520242014-04-23T02:37:05Z2014-04-25T00:30:20Z I hear the word bantered about a lot especially by media, C-Level execs and government types. This week it was the "Innovation Economy". well, that makes sense since the USA's only lead globally has been in innovation, but the...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
I hear the word bantered about a lot especially by media, C-Level execs and government types. This week it was the "Innovation Economy". well, that makes sense since the USA's only lead globally has been in innovation, but the rest of the world is catching up due to this thing called the Internet (an invention of ours, btw).

Start-ups and Entrepreneurship have been the glow sticks that city leaders have been shaking since 2008 as they all try to emulate Silicon Valley. It doesn't work that way. The city needs to foster an environment that allows Richard Florida's Creative Class to bloom. then it needs to make it easy to do busy in that city. Then government should get out of the way.

Tampa Bay was lucky that in the 7 years since the seeds were sown for start-ups and entrepreneurs to get together in a safe place and play, things have progressed well. Not as fast as everyone would like but these things take time.

One of the cool things the county did in Tampa Bay (Hillsborough County) was to fund tech, hacker, makers and start-up events. Libraries are becoming a hub for makers groups (especially for kids, which takes the whole idea of STEM education to a granular level by giving them hands on experience in a safe environ.) That's how government can innovate - re-think how monies and facilities can be used to incubate inventors, makers, thinkers, start-ups and founders.

It's like billiards. You want these groups bouncing off each other because that's where the magic happens.

Innovation also takes re-investment. So the winners need to give back to the community with time, money and knowledge.

3M, Google, HP (in the old days), Richardson-Vicks (before P&G bought them) - all provide the environment where innovation can happen. You have smart people bouncing ideas around in a place where failure is an option.

When I worked in R&D as a chemist for a major manufacturer, innovation was copying the competitors. That's not innovation either. Innovation to me is taking the path less traveled (to paraphrase Frost for a second). It's seeing something not there yet. It's working on a new formula for Oil of Olay to remove all color, dye, grease. It's working on tanning lotion before there was a market for it (1990-92).

Think about Twitter. Even the owners weren't sure what it would become but it was a platform that they released so others could play with it.

Uber and Lyft have done to cab service what AirBnB has done to hotels. Sure, a lot of this is driven by a crappy economy and people wanting to leverage assets they have to trade time for money but the ideas are innovative. The regulations are being bent and broken in the process -- that's how you know it is a good idea!

Dropbox didn't invent file-sharing but it did innovate the user interface to make it stupid easy! And they hacked the marketing to make it grow like crazy.

Unfortunately, a lot of folks equate innovation with a new app doing the same old thing. Innovation can be anywhere, but from my experience innovation is largely done in an environment accepting of innovation and failure (because they go hand in hand). Look at pharma: 95% of experimental drugs fail to get to market. What can you do, stop trying?

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The Start-up Money Mentalitytag:blog.tmcnet.com,2013:/on-rads-radar//51.516852013-12-19T14:41:14Z2013-12-19T15:21:17Z In the Tampa Bay start-up community, the most popular complaint is that there are enough investors. In the nine months of 2013, $318 million was invested in Florida businesses. That number is up from 2012. "Nationally, venture capital investments...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
In the Tampa Bay start-up community, the most popular complaint is that there are enough investors. In the nine months of 2013, $318 million was invested in Florida businesses. That number is up from 2012. "Nationally, venture capital investments declined by 1 percent to $27.5 billion," according to the Miami Herald. Hmmm... why is that? Probably because there are other places to put money to get bigger and quicker returns (like with a pal on Wall Street who will do some shady stuff to get you a 25% return).

Y Combinator's Paul Graham shared some numbers this week. "Harvard researcher Shikhar Ghosh revealed in 2012 that at least 95 percent of startups fail to meet a projected return on investment." That means start-ups should focus on building a sustainable business.

My experience lately has been that founders have this idea that their start-up will launch after a 54-hour startup weekend, pitch a couple of times, land mad money, and the rest is easy street. This couldn't be further from the truth.

My experience is that most founders think their idea is gold -- without much though into a go-to-market plan. And sometimes without much thought into how do I build this plan either.

I was surprised at Wearable Tech Expo by the number of companies that were funded by Kickstarter. That's right, prototypes and everything funded lean by a kickstarter campaign. Then these companies did market research and went to market. How novel is that?

Just think about the Apple app store. How many apps actually make money? Start-ups are like that.

Another example is music. You have probably seen the story of the poverty of royalties paid out to musicians by Pandora and other online music sites. Albums don't sell the same volume they once did. It's like cloud services. The income starts very small after a large capital expenditure.

Look at Dell, Intel, AMD and other hardware companies that are gyrating to stay afloat as the industry shifts to mobile and cloud (in place of desktops and premise). I understand how start-ups hear about billion dollar valuations of Instagram, snapchat and twitter and think that can be them. The reality is: that's hitting lotto. The majority of startups fail (or at best pivot a few times to stay afloat). A minority make it a sustainable business.

If you are dropping the w-2 job to found a start-up on your savings in the hopes of grabbing some fast cash from VCs and then cashing out big in 3 years, you are misinformed. My I suggest that you drop by Startup Camp at ITEXPO in Miami at the end of January to speak with start-ups. Reality is very different from "The Social Network".

Don't take this as discouragement. Most start-ups are a fierce plodding along, slowing building a business every single day. You will trade in your w-2 for a commitment as big as a baby.

I think everyone thinks they have great ideas, but the tires meet the gravel in sales. Just look at the anemic sales most VoIP companies have. Money doesn't grow on trees and very few folks actually hit the lottery.

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Broadsoft Alum Acquired by Fidelitytag:blog.tmcnet.com,2013:/on-rads-radar//51.515472013-10-17T15:14:15Z2013-10-17T15:30:07Z Now that it is out there I can report that cloud-based video conferencing service, Vidtel, was acquired by Fidelity. Wainhouse, a research house for the telepresence industry, let the news out yesterday. Vidtel, based in Sunnyvale, CA., was founded...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
Now that it is out there I can report that cloud-based video conferencing service, Vidtel, was acquired by Fidelity. Wainhouse, a research house for the telepresence industry, let the news out yesterday.

Vidtel, based in Sunnyvale, CA., was founded by former Broadsoft CMO, Scott Wharton, in 2008. Alex Doyle, another Broadsoft alum, was Vidtel's VP of Marketing.

Vidtel was a channel focused technology service provider. (I was working there this year on channel marketing). The Wainhouse report tells the story of how this startup took a different path from its bigger competitor, Blue Jeans, who was all about raising money. Vidtel was about raising revenue through strategic partnerships with ClaryIcon, InFocus, IntelePeer, Providea, ACT!, and others.

You know I like channel focused service providers, but even more I like a focused service provider. "Furthermore, the company avoided scope creep within its service offering." That is a key takeaway for other SP's or startups.

I agree with Wainhouse, 'We view this acquisition as a real-world example of how hard work, perseverance, and intelligence can really pay off."

Good luck to Scott, Dan, Dagan, Bruce and the rest of the staff at Vidtel on the next phase of the company's growth with Fidelity.

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Shiny Object Syndrometag:blog.tmcnet.com,2013:/on-rads-radar//51.513482013-08-21T14:49:30Z2013-08-22T12:57:22ZIn my local and business interactions there are a lot of entrepreneurs and start-up co-founders. Many of them have what I call Shiny Object Syndrome. Everything is the next new and shiny thing. We live in a society that wants...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
In my local and business interactions there are a lot of entrepreneurs and start-up co-founders. Many of them have what I call Shiny Object Syndrome. Everything is the next new and shiny thing.

We live in a society that wants to multi-task to seem more productive. You have seen these folks in the car next to you, reading emails, texting, putting on makeup, eating with two hands. Studies demonstrate how multi-tasking is not effective. See here, here, and here.

I see it demonstrated by drivers all the time. Most people cannot drive and use the phone - for talking or texting. They are distracted between two important mental tasks - driving and actively listening.

For entrepreneurs, some just like the idea or the initial start of a new venture. Then it is off to the next shiny thing. It's attention deficit disorder to a high degree. Success is about more than just starts. Success is about focus, follow through, and in some cases grinding. For adrenaline junkies, this is the part where the fun ends.

There is a difference between pivoting and shiny object syndrome. A Pivot in a business may be necessary for market traction or survival. The pivot isn't a new shiny object; it is the light in the tunnel.

In a me-too marketplace, jumping on the bandwagon of everything that passes you by may not be smart strategy. Your own customer base may not want or need the new object -- or may not want to buy it from you.

Sometimes it is a function of the new trend; everyone wants to be inside the "in" crowd, to appear to be trendy. Well, wait 10 minutes, a new trend will come your way.

The marketplace doesn't really reward Shiny Object Syndrome; it rewards grinding it out. It rewards the Grind - working at it each day. Following through. It takes time to build something. You can't speed up a pregnancy or how a plant grows. Sticktoittiveness.

"It takes years to become a doctor, lawyer, professional athlete, successful business owner, inventor, or you name it. Too often people will try something, not see immediate success, and ditch the idea and adopt their old ways. The reason people fail when dieting is the same reason people fail to have success in other areas. Successful people invest in themselves and realize that doing big things takes time." [source]

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The Lottery Mentality tag:blog.tmcnet.com,2013:/on-rads-radar//51.513082013-08-09T05:22:48Z2013-08-09T05:54:24Z"Girls star and generational lighting rod Lena Dunham made her big debut in New York City politics yesterday," according to the MIami New Times. ""Recent college graduates, she said, are 'struggling to find jobs and pay the rent and if...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
"Girls star and generational lighting rod Lena Dunham made her big debut in New York City politics yesterday," according to the MIami New Times.

""Recent college graduates, she said, are 'struggling to find jobs and pay the rent and if they struggle for too long, they're leaving New York' for other cities, 'even Tampa,'" reports Capital NY on Dunham's remarks."

In Tampa Bay, there is always someone squawking about how to build a startup community, a Creative City, or how to get people to stay. Then I find out that just about every county in the US is facing the same dilemma. Strange, right?

At TEDx Manchester Village, some discussion centered on the image of Vermont. The population was getting older, while the younger people - the Millennials in particular - the 20 to 39 year olds - were leaving. That tilts the economy away from sustaining the older population. Welcome to Vermont or Florida or Arizona or Detroit!

There is also the national discussion about graduating more STEM degrees to maintain our innovation.

I think the big problem is the Lottery Mentality in the US. We are an impatient populace. We have ADD. And these are not good traits by any means.

Most people in tech want to be in Silicon Valley or Washington state. Musicians and actors want to be in LA (Hollywood). Bankers want to be on Wall Street. Politicos and journalists want to be in DC. Everyone gravitates to the epicenter of their industry.

It's about density. These epicenters have more of your industry. More equates with more opportunity. It also equates with way more competition. It also means less outside influence. Just look at DC. Talk about an epicenter with its head up its arse.

The lottery ticket mentality is about not just wanting it now but wanting to be a big winner. Being Picked.

There is no patience for building slowly. There is the thinking that moving to the hive will somehow jump start the career, the business, the stardom.

Our Celebrity culture may be a small influence here as well. Hoping to be re-tweeted by our favorite celeb or bumping into them in Starbucks ... WOW! The Oprah Effect. Unfortunately, it is forgotten that it doesn't work all the time. In fact, it doesn't work most of the time.

Dunham thinks that NYC is getting too expensive to sustain a starving artist. That's okay, Grunge started in Seattle. There will be another hive. In tech, there is NYC, Boston, Austin, RTP, Boulder and even Tampa and Vegas. You don't have to chase the mother ship. You can just ship your Art from where you are.

In Tampa Bay, the talk is of the lack of active VC (venture capital) being a hurdle to the growth of the startup community. I think that it isn't about VC money; it is about sustainable business models. Remember the Internet bubble of 2000 where every dot com got funded without a business plan? No one learned the lesson. Waiting for a VC is like waiting for a publisher or a record deal or a modeling contract. It's this mentality that results in lottery being the number one retirement plan.

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2 Studies and Some Tidbitstag:blog.tmcnet.com,2013:/on-rads-radar//51.512312013-07-16T21:08:46Z2013-07-16T21:23:51ZMetaswitch did a study on cloud + telcos + SMB and found that telcos may not be the trusted cloud providers that small business wants. "Existing phone providers overlooked for IP: Just 10 percent of pre-IP SMBs would even consider...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/Metaswitch did a study on cloud + telcos + SMB and found that telcos may not be the trusted cloud providers that small business wants. "Existing phone providers overlooked for IP: Just 10 percent of pre-IP SMBs would even consider getting information about IP communications from their existing phone provider. Eighteen percent of 50-plus-employee SMBs would contact rival providers directly."

Two interesting stats: "According to the latest snippet from Infonetics Research, the number of OTT VoIP subscribers is set to head near one billion by the end of 2013." And the second: "Myers added: "In 2012, the average revenue per user was a meager US$7.13 annually. Since this alone is an unsustainable business model, most providers are turning to advertising, third party apps and wholesale arrangements with traditional operators.""

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SubOut is the Best of What Cloud has to Offertag:blog.tmcnet.com,2013:/on-rads-radar//51.505902013-01-23T00:15:30Z2013-01-23T01:37:04Z The transportation industry is more efficient due to a new start-up that launched. SubOut.com is a subscription-based communications exchange enabling transportation companies to source business, buy and sell parts, and streamline subcontracting via a secure, easy-to-use interface accessible from...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
The transportation industry is more efficient due to a new start-up that launched. SubOut.com is a subscription-based communications exchange enabling transportation companies to source business, buy and sell parts, and streamline subcontracting via a secure, easy-to-use interface accessible from any web-enabled device. [PR]

"SubOut.com is an innovative web-based tool that streamlines the subcontracting process for the bus and limousine industry", said Thomas Howe, an award winning communications software architect and one of SubOut.com's founders. "This easy-to-use platform uses the most up-to-date technology to reduce the overhead produced from charter booking processes by allowing charters to be posted and accepted online, in real-time."

SubOut is a vendor management platform for faster, stickier coordinated bus and limo transactions. Transportation is still largely inefficient and analog. This platform allows for the layering of communications on top for ease of use and to speed up the bidding process for tour operators (and the like).

Programmers and telecom insiders forget that many people do not sit in front of computers all day. This is a framework for those types of businesses to leverage technology for business process improvement -- the holy grail of cloud computing. Subout.com adds instant communication. This results in filled buses, sold charters, and reduced idle time - and increased revenue, notes Anthony Vaccarello, President of Transportation Partners of America. In some respects, this is like Craigslist or elance for the transportation industry.

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ITEXPO West Wrap-Uptag:blog.tmcnet.com,2012:/on-rads-radar//51.500772012-10-08T16:03:35Z2012-10-09T16:21:19ZI'm home from ITEXPO West in Austin. It was another great show for me. The folks at TMC did another wonderful job putting it together. Jaime H. juggled my press room meeting schedule on Tuesday, despite my last minute schedule...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
ITEXPO West in Austin. It was another great show for me. The folks at TMC did another wonderful job putting it together.

Jaime H. juggled my press room meeting schedule on Tuesday, despite my last minute schedule changes. 8x8, Hostway, snom, Centerbeam and others were all able to sit down with me. (Sometimes that isn't always joyful for the marketing/PR folks.) I'm always happy if I can have one or 2 good conversations out of these meetings - and I did.

The sessions were mainly full. I noticed a couple of things: people were not leaving the session rooms but staying for session after session - and they were not just doing that to use a power plug. Most people were not on their devices during sessions, which is unique.

I think our industry is in a lot of turmoil caused by too much cloud hype and consolidation.

The economy, the change, the cloud, and the consolidation makes everyone stressed and fearful of losing their job, when there isn't likely another available (at least immediately).

The marketing machine has ballooned the hype on cloud to ridiculous proportions. The term doesn't mean much to anyone - customers, prospects, vendors, service providers, employees.

With access revenues flat, apps and cloud services are the only way for many service providers to gain revenue. The CLEC industry HAS to be successful in selling cloud services to survive.

Every show has a lot of cloud - so many titles, headlines, banners, etc. It is worse than VoIP was a few years ago. The noise level is deafening - and boring. The industry has to fix this fast.

Startup Camp Comms was enjoyable. Watching Tampa's own startup, Phonism, pitch was exciting. RingDNA won the popular vote though.

I have to say that the keynotes were very good. I have remarked in the past about the commercialized quality of the keynotes, but this time the keynotes were interesting, tweet-worthy, and informative. Thanks to Shortel's CEO Peter Blackmore, IBM's Mike Riegel, and Siemen's CMO Chris Hummel.

Most significant sound byte: "joy of use" is an expectation not a nice to have @hummel_chris."

It is not about the technology or the marketing buzz. It is about Outcomes and UX (user experience). Without outcomes and UX, cloud is just a clumsy way to push technology on a user. That won't last. they won't use it. Then they will stop paying for it. Then you have a lot of CAPEX tied up in dust.

IBM used a Tire Store as a case study. A tire store. You can't get any less tech than that. If a tire store worries about the UX, then shouldn't tech/telecom companies???

Personal note: I either need new shoes or more exercise because my back and feet hurt from walking around the show floor, the halls, the podium and downtown Austin. The parties were mobbed, but I was in bed before midnight most nights. (It's about Outcomes :).

We go to these conferences to learn, to mingle, to network. (That's one reason I organize a dinner at each event.) This show definitely delivers on those attributes.

FCC's 8th Broadband Progress Report is out. About 30% of the US population does not purchase fixed line broadband - but they may get broadband at work or via 3G. Only 6% are stranded on dial-up, so I am having a hard time swallowing all the money that CenturyLink, Frontier and Fairpoint are getting in federal funds to build out - at approximately $775 per user!!

EarthLink's customer profile according to Mike Toplisek:
"In large part, they would fit into the range of five employees up to 1,000 employees. Probably 95% of that customer base fits in that size."

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A Day in My Braintag:blog.tmcnet.com,2012:/on-rads-radar//51.493822012-05-18T14:19:54Z2012-05-24T03:51:22ZI was in NYC (Tribeca) this week to spend the day at a Q&A session with Seth Godin. He is a marketing guru and author of a lot of best selling business books. Like these:Here are some of the gems...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
I was in NYC (Tribeca) this week to spend the day at a Q&A session with Seth Godin. He is a marketing guru and author of a lot of best selling business books. Like these:

Here are some of the gems that I liked.

"A "brand" is the promise of an experience." [Boy, could I riff on that one!] Brand IS the experience. Accept that most people won't like you. Build a tribe that will.

Commit to one marketplace or two. You can't chop all the trees down in the forest with one hatchet.

"It's way easier to sell water to thirsty people than to make thirsty people. It's OK to remind people they're thirsty." The corollary to that is People buy to avoid pain more often than they buy to gain pleasure.

You can try to create demand for your service, like trying to make people thirsty. Or you can find thirsty people and sell them water.

"Define failure before you start. When you reach that point, stop, learn and move on to the next thing." [It's a concept from Seth's book, The Dip]

What is the world view of your target customer? Does your marketing line up with that?

For a brief few, Seth talked about working for a start-up versus working for Google or Apple or Facebook. A start-up is about growth If you want fast-paced; to make an impact; and to learn, join the start-up. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook are in the "keep it going" mode. You won't have an impact there. You will be a cog in the machine. In our world, working for any of the billion dollar LEC's or MSO's is like working for Facebook, only a lot less cool on your resume.

What is Important to you? Tom Peters says that he can tell what is important to you from calendar. What does your schedule say about what's important to you?

It's all about Direct Marketing and Pay for Performance. (Social media is a tool of direct marketing.)

There is no road map.

It's all about connection and association. Are you connecting people?

We have mass disruption going on today. Every industry including our own is being disrupted by the Internet. Why? The Internet is the first device that is both a Receiver and a transmitter. That's the problem.

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Some Stuff Happened While I Was on Daycationtag:blog.tmcnet.com,2012:/on-rads-radar//51.492592012-04-23T18:23:04Z2012-04-23T18:55:41ZI was taking today and tomorrow off to visit with some pals but the news won't quit.In the I-can't-stand-it zone, the University of Florida decides that TD's are more important than IT and cuts the Computer Science Department. Just when...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
I was taking today and tomorrow off to visit with some pals but the news won't quit.

In the I-can't-stand-it zone, the University of Florida decides that TD's are more important than IT and cuts the Computer Science Department. Just when Florida is playing host to the Rupublican Convention and is looking to make a name for itself, that name becomes DUM or MUD. In a time when we need more science and computer nerds, the state U decides to go a different way.

In Tampa, the former CEO of Savvis has closed his e-commerce company, Savtira, after a flurry of promises to hire 200 people and a number of odg and pony shows about the hot future. Apparently, he has done this before.

Cbeyond has decided that traditional agents are not its future. The Cloud has different demands and demands different partners.

Coresite bought Comfluent to enter the Denver market. "Comfluent plays a vital role in the interconnection community in the western U.S., serving more than 75 customers and managing the Rocky Mountain Internet eXchange (RMIX), the region's largest Internet exchange with access to more than 25 networks. Comfluent currently leases two sites that total approximately 9,300 NRSF," according to the SunHerald

Verizon Wireless wants its deal with the cablecos / SpectrumCo to go through, so it promised to sell off some spectrum. T-Mobile and others think that is just smoke and the deal should still be axed. [see here and there]

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The Latest in VoIP Updatestag:blog.tmcnet.com,2011:/on-rads-radar//51.475302011-09-19T22:00:37Z2011-09-19T23:00:44ZThere is just so many press releases. I'd say news but much of it is not new (that is to say innovative) or really news worthy other than as tidbits of info to keep up on the sector.Metaswitch got into...Peterhttp://rad-info.net/
There is just so many press releases. I'd say news but much of it is not new (that is to say innovative) or really news worthy other than as tidbits of info to keep up on the sector.

Metaswitch got into the SBC market, because their clients didn't want to buy the market leader, Acme Packet. Level3 jumped into the SBC market with a new service: Managed SBC.

Skype bought Groupme for a rumored $80M. Groupme was a contestant at the second Startup Camp, that also had the makers of the Android desktop phone, Glass.

Interesting thought: Inter-op is about user experience, so is device choice. Think about deployment from the user's experience.

InterCall announced that it will extend its Smoothstone VoiceMaxx IP-PBX services with the addition of VoiceMaxx CE, a suite of service packages based on the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution. Both Smoothstone and Intercall are owned by West Corp.

Here's something startling: a company debuted at ITEXPO with "a 100 percent turnkey white label product that will not only include provisioning, support, billing and telco services, but will also incorporate all of RealLinx products (VoiceLinx, SecurityLinx and BroadbandLinx)."

"NetSapiens' SNAPsolution is utilized by One Source Networks to power a hybrid of cloud-based and premise-based solutions, integrating all of the necessary service delivery components critical to the OSN VoIP infrastructure, such as accounting, provisioning, and call switching to enable OSN's end-user applications such as unified communications, virtual PBX, conferencing, and enhanced call center solutions."